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J1U5IC TIRADE
VOL. XLIII. No. 1 4 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, October 6,1906.
issue on his own ground, that much sooner will
the plane of the piano business be elevated, and
the piano salesman be able to sell legitimate
E. J. Delfraisse, the Well Known Music Trade
goods at the right price, if that price be stand-
Man Believes That the Best Way to Meet
ard for the goods he sells, without a catalogue
Catalogue House Competition Is to Supply
house proposition figuring in the deal at all.
the Instruments They Sell and on Similar
Until the one-price system is adopted, no dealer
Terms—Catalogue Houses Can Never Kill the
will dare to start the ball rolling to eliminate
System of Selling Goods Through Salesmen—
the catalogue house from the piano business.
Interesting Contribution Worth Reading.
It can be done by unanimity and system alone;
but that it can be done there is no shadow of a
New Orleans, Sept. 26, 1906.
doubt in the writer's mind.
Editor of The Music Trade Review, New York.
Yours very truly, B. J. DFXPRAISSE.
Dear Sir—I have read with much interest your
editorial, in your issue of September 23, regard-
ing catalogue houses, and also the story of the
Petitioned Into Bankruptcy by Wausau Co. and
$1 axe in another page of the same issue of your
Kroeger Bros.—Liability Approximate $20,-
much-valued publication, and about as positive
000 and Assets $4,000—John C. Coleman
a solution of the problem can be found in the
Appointed Receiver.
practice of the combination of the $1 axe story
and the one-price system "under the same con-
A petition in bankruptcy has been filed against
ditions and at the same price."
the Keables & Bayer Piano Co., manufacturers
The "raison d'etre" of the catalogue houses is of pianos, at Nos. 1901-1905 Park avenue, by two
the public's ignorance of the real value of a creditors, the Wausau Box & Lumber Co., $467,
piano. The manufacturer has not firmly and and Kroeger Bros., $51. It was alleged that the
persistently fixed and advertised a price for his company is insolvent, has made preferential pay-
piano. If a catalogue house can sell a piano in ments, $2,000; transferred merchandise and ac-
Chicago to a customer in New Orleans for $87.50 counts, $1,500; removed part of its property and
there is no reason why a New Orleans house can- allowed creditors to obtain preference by legal
not duplicate that order "under the same condi- proceedings.
The company was incorporated
tions and at the same price." Here is the rub:
March 30, 1904, with a capital stock of $10,000,
The dealer is afraid he will injure his good and succeeded the Milton Piano Co. Mrs. Irene
trade by advertising such wares. Wrong again. Keables, widow of a San Francisco physician, be-
In 90 per cent, of the cases in which he gets came president, and George Bayer treasurer.
in touch with the $87.50 customer he will sell Judge Adams, of the United States District
a better piano, and the other 10 per cent, he will Court, appointed John C. Coleman receiver of
at least lose nothing on.
the assets, fixing his bond at $750, on the appli-
Here is the proposition in a nutshell: The cation of Adolph M. Schwarz, who said that the
thing Is to get in touch with these $87.50 piano liabilities are $20,000 and assets $4,000.
purchasers. How can a dealer expect to do so
when he does not handle the goods? There is
PIANO CONDITIONS^ IN CALCUTTA.
no way on earth to stop the catalogue houses
as long as the legitimate dealer gives them the Large Trade in Sales and Renting—American
exclusive control of the field they occupy, and
Instruments Not Handled in Calcutta—Deal-
uses only abuse as an argument. Some one will
ers Claim They Have Been Tried and Found
always be found who manufactures such goods.
Unsuited—Some Comments Worth Noting.
Let every dealer meet the issue on a fair and
(Special to The Review.)
square basis. Sell the $87.50 piano on the same
Washington, D. C, Sept. 29, 1906.
terms, price and under the same conditions.
United States Consul-General William H.
Here is a field for the dealers' association in
work, and work to a finish, not sit down and Michael at Calcutta, in reply to an inquiry from
howl about a condition, but do something. Let a New York firm of piano manufacturers, reports
the dealers all get together and have a piano as follows:
"There are several dealers here of about the
made to sell in New York or Chicago for $87.50,
absolutely on the catalogue houses' conditions, same importance, all doing a large trade in
and they will see how long the catalogue houses sales and renting. The renting of pianos in
will sell pianos, the legitimate dealer absolutely Calcutta, and perhaps in other large cities in
to pay no commissions to salesmen, no freight— India, is a large and important feature of the
piano business. Europeans come and go, and
everything done by postage stamp.
Another word: The catalogue houses' system rather than purchase a piano they rent by the
does not, and never will, mean the deathknell month or by the year. The dealers rent pianos
of the system of selling goods through salesmen. and agree to keep them in tune and to look
Of this particular class of goods it will; in fact, after them for so many rupees (rupee equals
that is a field a salesman was never intended to 32.4 cents) per month. The rentals range from
work in. It is up to the dealer and to the sales- 12 to 50 rupees per. month, according to the
man to separate that field from the legitimate class of instrument. An average-priced instru-
piano business with a line and a mark so broad ment, of good make and tune, rents for 25 ru-
and plain, that "he who runs may read," and it pees per month, which includes tuning and re-
won't be long before this class of buyers is pair.
"When I came here I visited several different
educated until he who reads will run, and the
poorer the salesman is in a position to meet the piano houses and tried to rent an American-
CATALOGUE HOUSE COMPETITION
KEABLES & BAYER CO.'S TROUBLES.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
made piano. I was told that I would hardly be
able to get a satisfactory American-made instru-
ment in the city. I asked the reason why, and
was told that American instruments were no
longer handled by dealers in Calcutta. The ex-
planation was that American pianos were found
to be unsuited, owing to their construction and
the materials used in their construction, to the
climate of India. The dealers said that Ameri-
can goods have been tried and found to be un-
suited, and that English and German manufac-
turers had investigated the needs of India in
respect to musical instruments, and were build-
ing instruments that met the conditions so well
that dealers no longer paid any attention to
American-manufactured instruments.
"The statement is that the wood material used
yields too readily to the humid climate of India
and that the construction is faulty. One par-
ticular referred to was that the keys were too
close together, and other parts so constructed
that the inevitable swelling of wood made the
piano useless; also that the sounding board was
not made in such a way as to resist the effects of
the continued dampness.
"American manufacturers, of course, could do
precisely what European manufacturers have
done, and probably do still better, as has been
done in other fields. The country is so large
and so inviting that it is worth considering.
Names of the principal piano dealers in Cal-
cutta can be obtained from the Bureau of Manu-
factures."
NEW STORE IN STERLING, ILL.
A new music store has been opened at the
corner of Third street and Avenue B, Sterling,
111., by Professor and Mrs. F.« G. Ferguson,
who for three years were instructors in music
in the Western Illinois Normal School. They
will handle the Baldwin line of pianos, as well
as small goods and sheet music.
K0PS & McKEE OPEN IN GRAND FORKS.
Paul .1. Kops, for some time State asent for
the Strohber Piano Co. in North Dakota, has
formed a partnership with A. J. McKee, and
will open a music store in Grand Forks, N. D.,
under the firm name of Kops & McKee.
WILL EXHIBIT STRAUCH MODEL.
Ray Ritter, of the Ritter Music House, Allen-
town, Pa., secured a model of the Strauch Bros,
piano action while visiting the Music Show re-
cently, and will shortly exhibit same in their
store.
FIRE COMPANY FOR FOSTER-ARMSTRONG.
The Foster-Armstrong Co., Despatch, N. Y.,
have organized a fire company, and are also
building a house for the members of their pro-
tective organization at the rear of their plant.
Business with the Foster-Armstrong Piano Co. is
of immense proportions, and the present fall and
winter promises to break all records.
Watkins Bros., Hartford, Conn., have been ap-
pointed Henry F. Miller agents for that city and
vicinity.